Research Spotlight: Hope Schuermann
Q & A with Hope Schuermann, Clinical Assistant Professor and Counselor Education Program Coordinator in the School of Human Development and Organizational Studies in Education
What basic questions does your research seek to answer?
I focus my research under two umbrellas: (1) mental health trauma, and (2) counselor education pedagogy and supervision. Within trauma, I have worked on research related to post-traumatic growth in military personnel, Dissociative Identity Disorder, and childhood trauma. In counselor education, I have explored the impact of the supervisory relationship on client outcomes, the efficacy of instruments normed on multicultural populations, creative methods of teaching empathy, and counselor educator identity development.
What makes your work interesting?
Trauma impacts us all, in one way or another. I want to know how we, as mental health professionals, can best assist clients in resolving their trauma, and how we can use education and advocacy to build towards prevention of childhood trauma. From my experiences living and working as a counselor in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hit, to working as a counselor in a children’s advocacy center using play therapy to help children heal from abuse and neglect, to serving on a team intervention for mental health professionals, teachers, and administrators at Sandy Hook Elementary, my many experiences working with traumatized clients inform and motivate me in the work to find and understand efficacious treatments for traumatized minds. My love for researching counselor education comes from my passion for teaching and educating future mental health providers. I want to know how to mold the best counselors that can go out into the world and help people heal.